Iron Man and Neytiri on Chinese flag

The recent spate of tariffs kicked off by Donald Trump (and leading to mass retaliatory tariffs from other nations) is playing havoc with global industries, with the entertainment sector feeling the brunt of it. We’re already seeing tabletop companies fear they could go under and several gaming publishers discuss price rises (not to mention the looming rise to the already-high Nintendo Switch 2 sticker price), and now the film industry is up.

Global markets are often vital to a blockbuster’s success, with overseas takings the lifeblood of many major franchises. Of these markets, China is often seen as the most key – as evidenced by Ne Zha 2 climbing to the highest grossing animated movie ever almost entirely through the Chinese domestic box office. But soon, Hollywood movies might be blacklisted from screening in China.

Hollywood Movies Rely On The Chinese Box Office

Avatar: The Way Of Water - Jake Riding A Water Equivalent Of A Horse Captain America wielding Mjolnir in Avengers Endgame Chris Pratt's Owen Grady looking up at a T-rex after it took down another dinosaur as the island's volcano erupts in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom. Avatar: The Way Of Water - Jake Riding A Water Equivalent Of A Horse Captain America wielding Mjolnir in Avengers Endgame Chris Pratt's Owen Grady looking up at a T-rex after it took down another dinosaur as the island's volcano erupts in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom.

This was reported by MTKNews, which claims there are six major countermeasures being planned against the tariffs, with China’s commercial might having been a frequent target of Trump’s Presidential campaign and the most decisive factor in his administration’s push for the tariffs. Amongst these are “banning the import of US films into China”, as well as “investigating the intellectual property benefits of US companies operating in China”.

This secondary point is vaguer, but could mean anything from limiting the distribution of video games, television shows, music, and movies from the US, as well as impacting the ability for major US brands to house their factories and stores in the US. While open to interpretation, the idea of banning films from being imported is much clearer.

The other points are increasing tariffs on US agricultural products like soybeans, banning import of US poultry, suspending Sino-US cooperation on fentanyl-related issues, and one listed only as “countermeasures in the service trade sector”

If this comes to pass, it could be a major blow for some of this year’s upcoming movies, leading to a major knock-on effect for the industry. Both Avatar movies made over $200 million in China alone, as did Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, while Avengers: Endgame made $580 million. All these series have new entries coming up, and will be relying on these numbers to make back their sizeable budgets.